“A healthy body leads to a healthy mind”
Sleep, diet and exercise are the basic building blocks of effective time management, they are all relatively important but possibly out of the three sleep is the most important, not only to be effective at time management but for our social and psychological well-being as well, It is important that an individual should get enough sleep so that they do not feel tired during the day. The amount of sleep an individual requires is very much an individual thing and it will change as an individual ages. What is just as important is to get into a pattern – there is nothing the body likes more than a schedule – go to bed at 11 wake at 7am etc.
The following are indicative of lack of sleep
- Can’t concentrate on a task for more than 5 minutes
- Spend time taking short naps or even worse dozing off at our work desks
- Desire/need to take caffeine regularly during the day to stay concentrated
- Fall asleep watching the TV in the evening
- Afternoon drop of in performance
- Are you the sort of person that has problems sleeping. Here are some tips
Tips to improve your sleep patterns:
Don’t eat anything 3 hours before going to sleep. Your body needs to rest when it’s sleeping. It won’t rest if it’s busy digesting your food.
Refrain from taking any stimulants three hours before you go to bed – caffeine or tobacco
Stick to a sleeping schedule – be consistent. Don’t sleep Midnight – 7am one day and then 2 am – 7am the next day. The body has a system clock which if you have a regular sleeping pattern, it will make your sleep much more effective.
Don’t exercise before you sleep. Exercising makes you stay awake. You’ll make your heart beat faster and raise your body temperature – which makes you stay awake.
Eating/Diet and Exercise
There are plenty of books and articles on the subject of diet and exercise on the internet. The only reason that they are being mentioned in this article is that they are a constituent part of the basic building blocks for an effective time management system. However as with sleep implement a routine – eat and exercise regularly and consistently.
Incorporate these building blocks into your daily routine and you will have the energy to effectively implement new time management strategies to make more effective use of your time and improve productivity, incorporate them into your daily “to-do list”.
